The parents said that they “show love to anyone and everyone” but were concerned the situation would cause their child “confusion”.

They called for the young transgender boy to be helped in a “private space”, rather than in the public sphere of a school.

“It was the fact that he was identifying as a girl some days and as a boy other days, so the fact that he was dressing up in that manner and was trying to portray that particular gender on that day.

“So for us it was very difficult because it’s inconsistent,” the boys’ father told BBC 4′s Today programme on Monday.

“Our son is brought up in a way that there are boys and there are girls.”

The couple said they were concerned for the “welfare of all the children”, but dismissed claims that a lack of acceptance was one of the reasons for such high suicide and self harm rates among young transgender people.

“I don’t believe that’s the case. I don’t believe it’s that they’re not accepted... I don’t think people are bullying those children in any shape or form. I don’t think that’s the case,” Mr Rowe said.

“Many parents are concerned that they are going to have their son or daughter going to school and the next thing they know they’ve got children who are coming dressed in a different gender.”

He continued: “All the kids are equal but actually we have a social understanding that we have boys and we have girls. There’s a distinct difference.

“Not just in what you wear but also in our DNA, the way we are.. and we feel that there’s a political agenda that’s sort of pushing this and driving this.

“Remember, we are taking children that are six years of age. A six year old... doesn’t have the mental capacity to work out those kind of things at such a young age.”

The Christian couple were criticised for their hypocrisy on a number of levels, including their claims of politicising gender and their assertion that transgender children are not bullied.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry and Labour MP Stella Creasy were among those lambasting the parents, with Creasy accusing them of teaching their child to “hate’.